Merle Dixon
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Posts posted by Merle Dixon
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And rumor is the 14OG/CC is a total jackass. He is not liked.
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6 hours ago, Walkerdubs said:
Do you think Big Blue will actually go through with that AETC memo about taking pilot slots? Should we prepare for disappointment? Cadre at our ROTC Detachment keep saying “ignore it”
FYSA - December 2019 Commission -> Vance June 2020
Sent from my iPhone using Baseops Network mobile appI am surprised management at your detachment is so detached from reality. I just heard that CBM is going to send some T-38 students to Sheppard. CBMs maintenance problems have crushed their ability to train T-38 students. So, yes, I think big blue will reduce UPT slots. And please, while working for big blue falcon, always, ALWAYS “prepare for disappointment.”
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7 hours ago, dannoc said:
Old timer FAIP questions.
I was a FAIP in the mid to late 70's before I got into TAC (F-4s) so know little of the dual track training process at UPT. I'm getting some questions from a grandkid about aircraft assignments as he's thinking maybe he wants to be a USAF pilot.
The main question I need to answer is the scenario where a stud gets fighter/bomber qualified and goes on to the T-38. Does he already know what fighter/bomber/tanker he will fly when he gets selected for T-38s or is it just a block of those aircraft and he picks the aircraft later depending on his class standing. Thanks for any help.
Sir,
If your grandson wants to pursue the USAF pilot life, PLEASE help him find a fighter guard unit.
Great resource.... https://bogidope.com/
There are a bunch of students in SUPT right now that are “off the street” guard and reserve members. In the good old days, you had to enlist in the guard or reserve and maybe, eventually, post bachelors degree, your guard or reserve unit would send you to a commissioning source and then UPT.
Not any more. SUPT has numerous newly minted guard or reserve 2LTs. All of these kids I have spoken with had at least a private pilot certificate (many had their private and instrument rating) before they applied to several guard units. Bottom line, active-duty is a clown show. Go Guard.
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I’m deployed right now. Layover in Munich. 😂
I hope all of you escape. AA and UAL each hiring 1,000 between now and the end of 2020. DAL claims they are gonna hire 1,200 between now and the end of 2020. FedEx, SWA, Alaska, who knows? 🍺🍺🍺
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BS or not, this pullback in rated pilot slots rumor makes sense. A few months ago I heard that AETC needed 250ish new IPs in FY 19. Well, they only got 150ish because everyone is jumping ship. And, CBM has yuge aircraft maintenance problems that will take the new maintenance contractor at least a year to fix. Didn’t one of you guys also mention PIT had/has maintenance problems too? You cant train pilots with broken aircraft and a lack of IPs.
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47 minutes ago, nunya said:
I think you'll rue the day Trebek you said that. If a CC is getting graded on your PT test, that incentives him to have more mandatory fun runs, unit PT, mock PT tests, etc. If I'm a CC getting called on the carpet about your 69 failing score, I'm at least going to have documented all of my efforts to fix you.
Isn’t there some AFI that says AF members should be given time during the duty day for PT? I have never seen that actually happen in a fighter squadron or in a UPT squadron. Maybe this will lead to folks actually given time, during the duty day, for PT? BWAHAHAHA! Yeah right, I know, fat chance (get it, FAT chance)! I crack me up.
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On 8/30/2019 at 11:02 PM, Bender said:
You a fan of loaded questions? Why not provide your own intelligent perspective on PTN rather than offer it up like meat to lions? PTN can do whatever PTN does and it makes no difference to any UPT line IP’s life for the next 2+ years.
This whole thread is a sport bitch exercise...
PTN is literally the only counter weight to this thread’s topic, outside of UPT innovation flights...which wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for PTN in the first place.
Captains and Lieutenants are actively trying to unf*ck what Lt Cols, Cols, and GOs have done over the last decades and even the last couple years...so focus your fire precisely and be constructive in your criticisms.
This coming from a guy that climbed up hill both ways in the snow...way too old to not be able to empathize with the perpetrators...but smart enough to see both the heroes and the victims.
Waiting for this thread to even find a glimpse of usefulness,
~Bendy
Ha! Every thread on here turns into sport bitching. My intent in starting the thread was to see if these things are happening at every SUPT base:
1) Degradation of student phase 3 performance.
2) No more daily morning briefs and or standup.
3) Low IP manning.
4) Lack of civilian sim IPs.
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2 hours ago, Newb said:
Hello,
I fly a jet equipped with an ejection seat. During a deployment, I started developing neck, back, and hamstring pain. I notified my flight doc and she attributed my pain to muscle soreness and suggested I wait to see if it heals on its own. Two months later, I woke up with excruciating pain. MRI results concluded that a cervical disc tore and my nerves are being “severely” pinched (annular tear, spinal stenosis, cervical radiculopathy are the medical terms). My lumbar spine has the same condition at a “moderate” level (which explains the hamstring pain). In addition, my pectoral and tricep muscles are not responding and are atrophying. The flight doc suggested immediate surgery, but I declined. I can’t prove that the ejection seat caused this, but I don’t have any other explanation.
Consequently, I was placed on a full profile for 6 weeks. My profile has since expired, and I haven’t flown yet. As long as I don’t aggravate my neck or back, I’m not in pain anymore. However, I don’t want to reherniate my spine again. I haven’t followed up with my flight doc yet, and I have an appointment with an neurologist off-base for a second opinion.
Could someone please share their insight to what this might mean for my flying career? Could I advocate that I no longer fly ejection seat aircraft (cross-flow) to prevent further damage to my spine? If I speak up, could I be FEB/MEB’d? What questions should I ask my neurologist and flight doc?
I understand the best answer is to talk to my flight doc, but I really value this board’s knowledge and experiences and wanted to hear your guy’s opinion first.
Thank you!
An MEB is NOT a bad deal. Chances of a medical retirement are great in your case. Are you a fighter pilot or a Buff/B-1 pilot? Your injuries are very common in G pullers. Write down every possible question you can think of for the neurologist. Get on a PT test exemption ASAP (no running, no crunches, no pushups, no timed super speed walk).
I and many fighter pilots hold a class 1 FAA medical with spine problems. DO NOT let flying for the AF, nor doing the PT test, screw up your long term health.
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19 hours ago, youdontknowthis said:
- He acted as if he had never heard of considering pro pay for pilots., when compared to doctors and how they get paid. He half serious asked how many of us new how to perform medical procedures as if they are on another level. I wanted to ask how many of them know how to fly but I’ll admit I don’t have the stones to do something like that.
- He said that $35k was really good for the bonus.
How many doctors have 4 to 10 million dollars in training costs? Zero. He is an idiot.
https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/research_reports/RR2400/RR2415/RAND_RR2415.pdf
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Folks, there are never school lists here, only high morale, joy, and time off...
https://careers.fedex.com/pilot
http://deltajobs.net/pilots.htm
https://www.united.com/ual/en/us/fly/company/career/pilot.html
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Any rumors on the FY 19 take rate?
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Any IFF IPs? How are IFF washout rates these days?
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2 hours ago, rudderrightmore said:
This is a real email....
2nd to last line, “running shoes & a reflective belt.” BWHAHAHAHAH!!!
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Hello friends. 6 to 9 month ago, I retired as a T-38 IP reservist. Talking to friends that are still hacking the mish (cool pilot talk 🙂 ), they are seeing numerous problems in T-38 land. 1st, the reduction in T-6 syllabus flying time is noticeable in newbie skill level and SA. 2nd, flight room daily morning briefs and daily stand-up are a thing of the past due to.... 3rd, IP manning is terrible. Supposedly AETC needed 249 IPs in FY 2019, they got 150 - everyone is separating. 4th, there are not enough civilian simulator instructors.
Anyone else seeing the same stuff?
I am drinking Belgian beer in Belgium right now. I hope you all find your way off the sinking ship.
Merle
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23 minutes ago, mcbush said:
Can you help me build some SA on why it’s so important not to have any gap during the transition? How severe is the ass pain that results from a break in service?
It is not important. I have several friends that had a gap in service. It mattered not.
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1 hour ago, isuguy1234 said:
And how bout life insurance, still normal SGLI in the grd/res?
Then once out altogether, what’s the favorite life insurance company on the market?
Yup, TRS for you and the family is $215ish per month. I have DAL vision and dental and DAL life insurance and an AAFMAA term policy. I am sure UAL, AA and SWA have life insurance, vision and dental too.
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17 hours ago, Gazmo said:
I am an O-4 nearing the 16.5 yr mark in the old retirement system with 4,500+ points toward a guard retirement and I am on first year pay with one of the Big 3, so for me, it is worth doing another 3.5 to get to 20. However, once I get into the 2nd year pay, I'll be looking for a nonflying job in the ANG or Reserves, maybe even points only.
This is exactly what I have seen in AFRC the last couple of years. Once guys hit 2nd year airline pay, the reserve job becomes a money loser - if you drop an airline trip for mil duty. If you do your mil job around your airline trips, sure you make that extra reserve money, but most guys would rather just have the time off.
Plus, the general ass-pain of the reserve job wears on folks. Little things, like - logging into a computer: Insert CAC, wait 10 to 15 secs for the computer to recognize it. Enter PIN, wait 69 seconds. Here comes the stupid pop up, oh, here is another, and, another. Finally, after 5 minutes, there is the desktop screen, click on Outlook, it opens, updates mailbox, 3 minutes later you can read email, blah, blah, and on and on. Oh yeah! Don’t forget the self aid buddy care, fire extinguisher training, trafficking in human persons, unexploded ordnance, etc, the same exact BS briefings you have sat through over and over and over and....
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13 hours ago, Tonka said:
1) Take a look at Freakonomics, perhaps the economics of drug dealers/crack cocaine... (and no, there is not a 1-1 comparison between drug dealers and fighter pilots). When you ask a kid what they want to be when they grow up, a few typical answers include - fire fighter, cop, fighter pilot... the first 2 typically or traditionally don't pay well. Why? Read Freakonomics.
2) Now thankfully you'll never be able to demonstrate this, but if you could - go down to the local fire house and find the first non-fire fighter (NFF) there and tell them (and the rest of the fire fighters) that the NFFs are just as important as the Fire Fighters... that their high school diploma and 2 weeks of OJT is as important as the years of training, studying, testing, learning, working out, and fighting to be luck enough to get an interview and to do well on the exam and to make it through probation, etc... that the fire fighter went through... then give the NFF a patch, even call them a "fighter", give them awards/medals/promote them for doing stuff that seems important in the station while the real work/sacrifice is being done on location, put them in charge of the fire house because you have to be "Fair" to everyone. Tell them that they can take 2 hours for lunch, 8 hours every other Tuesday to get better at their job because they don't have time to get better at it while they're doing it, tell them 9-3 is pretty decent work hours... then tell the fire fighters that, sorry we don't have enough of you so it will be 36 on/12 off, sorry if we put you away wet and put you back in before you can go home and see the family (you know they love their job, that they live for it, so why make life better for them?). Make up tremendous amounts of accolades for crap that means nothing and give it to the NFFs with great pomp and circumstance because we're all equal. Oh and their jobs? those jobs that NFFs do that are meant to support the fire fighters? Yeah, let them write instructions/rules that pretty much puts the responsibility on the fire fighters.
When the fire fighters come back after a 36 hour blaze, delirious from the excitement and exhaustion, wanting to celebrate with their fellow fire fighters - force them to let the NFFs be a part of it. When they push it up too much - criticize them and kick them out for frivolous reason. Don't allow them back into the station until their uniform meets regulations,. When they save 3 kids but step on a cat - make sure you publicly flog them for it... when the NFF fails to show up on time for weeks on end and never gets the job done, be sure to do nothing about it.
Obviously a bit black and white/extreme example... there are plenty of non-fighter pilots (myself included) in the AF that do amazing and incredible things for the fight and deserve the accolades and spoils (not myself) and this is not a bashing of support roles... this is an attempt to show you were the rot started. You/they/we can try to fix the symptoms (is it $, is it additional duties, etc.) but until you address the rot - the dis-mantling of (for lack of a better term) the glory, prestige, and respect that goes with a professional doing a professional job, that takes probably a decade to get good at (including a degree or 2, USAFA, ROTC, UPT, IFF, etc...) WE WILL NEVER FIX IT. Do they want medals and be on the front page news? No - they want the respect/honor for doing what they do, something the AF stopped doing a long time ago.
There are important roles everywhere, I have no doubt that we need 99% of the people in the AF to do the job... but I can not think of another organization in the world that would try so hard to put everyone in the same lime light, all the time. What if Taylor Swift had all the roadies, ushers, back up singers come up and be on stage for every performance and give them a microphone? Do we diminish their jobs if we don't?
To some extent everyone is replaceable, but I'm guessing there are not too many fire fighters serving excessively long commitments to be fire fighters. I have a few in my family, some of the most humble/honest/best people I know... I have never once heard them complain about being a fire fighter... why is that?
3) Fighter pilots are just the first and most prolific demographic... the rest of the pilots, the rest of the pointy-end-of-the-spear isn't far behind, add to them the maintainers, engineers, doctors, nurses, and any other professional that would be treated as a professional outside of the AF... appreciated for their knowledge, years of education, years of sacrifice to get where they are, etc... they'll be gone too, unless/until there is another recession.
Wow, hats off to you bro. Perfect summation!
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I’m a reservist and I don’t know where to look... What was the FY 2018 Aviator Continuation Pay (pilot bonus) take rate? Is the take rate broken down by MAF, CAF, AFSOC, etc?
Thanks,
Merle
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My current assignment: Layover in Frankfurt Germany. My functional (me) is telling me to enjoy some beer and feel sorry for you guys stuck in the active-duty clown show. I truly hope every one of you find an escape hatch to the Guard or Reserve, or, just bail entirely. Good luck folks, this cold one is for you!
Edit: Before this 6-day trip, I had 11 days off. Every single day, playing with my kids, taking them to lunch, saw Incredibles 2, a few days later Ant Man and the Wasp, made them breakfast almost every day, lots of “quality” time with the wife, honey do list complete, etc, etc. After this trip, I have 5 days off. God bless you all.
🍺
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On 5/17/2018 at 12:54 AM, Homestar said:
When they come for the military pension we’ll have bigger problems I think.
On 5/17/2018 at 9:28 AM, Azimuth said:Any Congressman who even mildly suggests revoking military pensions would be committing political suicide for their career. Then the focus would turn to their pensions and it would become a mess.
“We can guarantee cash benefits as far out and at whatever size you like, but we can not guarantee their purchasing power.”
-Alan Greenspan
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Commanders are dropping like flies this year
in General Discussion
Posted
Sad, I hoped maybe the OG was booted due to upper management finally figuring out one of the many reasons pilots are bailing in droves is jackass management. The WG/CC is married to an airline pilot. She knows life is better on the outside world. I though it refreshing to see a tool get the boot. But, she may be a tool too. Sad.